 See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate

As per census definition, mother-tongue is the language spoken in childhood by the person's mother to the person.As a mother-tongue, Bengali has decreased its share from 82.3% of the population of Bardhaman district in 1961 to 79.9% in 2001, Hindi has increased its share from 8.5% in 1961 to 10.9% in 2001 Santali has remained steady at around 4.9% during the period, and Urdu has increased its share from 2.4% in 1961 to 2.6% in 2001.Other mother-tongues spoken in 2001 were